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They were a bit flat, and the Levante keeper made some key saves. Their lack of depth has always been a concern, and the noises about them being the new Neverkusen are getting louder (though, unlike Leverkusen, they can't lose the domestic Cup Final as well).

This result really puts the specter of Barcelona lying down on the final day to deny Madrid the title back on the cards.

This result really puts the specter of Barcelona lying down on the final day to deny Madrid the title back on the cards.

But if all 3 win out until the last game, Barca would still have a chance to win the title if they beat Atletico and Real Madrid lost to Espanyol. Maybe Real losing to Espanyol isn't that likely, but wouldn't you have to give yourself a chance to win in that situation?

Alleged, convincingly, "monkey chants" by Atleti fans in Levante toward Levante's Diop in a Sky story that also shows its writers/editors don't know La Liga is decided by head-to-head instead of Goald Difference.

I had a prior commitment and saw only a bit of the 1st half. Atletico has been dancing between raindrops in a number of games down the stretch...not today. That final game should be interesting...unfortunately.

Joe, I was assuming that Madrid take an early multi-goal lead against Espanyol, which strikes me as quite likely. You are of course right that the calculus is very different if they drop points before then.

Ursus: Does Mazzari get another year? I've never thought he lived up to billing at Napoli and this has been anything but a quality year. They'll probably hang on to that Europa slot, but is just barely hanging on to a Europa slot really good enough for anybody coaching there? The news, what little I see, seems to indicate he'll stay.

Mazzarri appears to have the support of the new owner, so if I had to bet I would say that he will stay as long as they don't blow Europa League qualification, but there are a lot of Interisti who think that is absolutely the wrong way to go.

So, about that Fenway game between Roma and Liverpool. Does anyone know where tickets are available? Tix went on sale on May 2nd, but other than a few websites that charge exorbitant fees and seem to be run by the same company despite having different names I can't find an official seller. There's no information on the Red Sox Football At Fenway page yet, so I'm not sure what's up. There's also nothing on the Liverpool website that I could see about it, though IIRC both Liverpool and Roma had tickets to sell to their supporters already.

So was 3-3 today the single greatest advert for GD possible, or further sign that GD is a stupid way to determine "champions"? Discuss. Show your work.

Well, count me as surprised that Rodgers basically admitted they were trying to go for the GD problem even being up 3-0 against a Pulis-led Palace team. Even in the rosy GD scenario I painted several days ago, I thought a 3-0 win over Palace was about the best you could hope for, and that you'd likely need 8-0 or 9-0 against Newcastle. So they get to 3-0, apparently press to get more, and fall apart in just 10 minutes to the point where they actually only come away with a draw.

This seems totally on Rodgers, though. I can squint and see the rationale for going for a 4-0 win if you truly, truly believe Man City will not drop points, but once they score to make it 3-1 with ~10 min left you have to park the bus, try hitting on a 2-man counter if possible, and see out the win for the 3 points. To fall apart completely is just ludicrous.

All that said, I can maybe see City losing one of the last two games... Maybe. After all, were it not for QPR basically quitting in stoppage time they would have lost... at home... to a near-relegation team... when a victory assured them the league title. So anything is possible.

But man, they really blew this one.

EDIT: Like Liverpool fans, I confused today's draw with a loss, because that's how it must feel.

Yeah, I feel like Liverpool winning on GD was pretty farfetched the whole time. Make sure you get the win and just hope City drops points.

It was looking pretty good until around the 75th minute. They could have been up 4 or 5 to nil given how they played. They just punched themselves out, this was the first time that I've seen Liverpool look that tired and slow to react on the pitch, they just didn't have the legs to get back. After the second goal they tried to defend the lead, and they had nothing.

I feel like this is my trial by fire as a Liverpool fan, much like the Grady Little game certified me for the Red Sox. I had to keep working as the game went on, and I just felt sick to my stomach for a couple hours afterwards.

A little late, but one thing I forgot to mention about Rodgers' post Chelsea comments is that they were largely a paraphrase of comments Mourinho himself had made following the Sunderland Capital One loss. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, which is unfortunate. Mourinho himself talked about how parking the bus was easy to coach and that it does not allow players to express themselves.

Lots of sour grapes from Rodgers to be sure, but the bits about coaching the bus and players expressing themselves are pretty much exactly things Mourinho himself had said.

Wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round!

"We had one team that needed three points to have a chance to survive, and they didn't play to win," Mourinho told Sky Sports.

...We were waiting for a kind of crazy game, especially in the second half, where they would gamble everything to try for a last chance to survive, but they didn't. Even worse - they defended much more but that's their problem. We have not a right to criticise."

Tottenham have apologised and begun an investigation after claiming that the hacking of their social media accounts was the reason a video was posted poking fun at Liverpool's collapse in the Premier League title race. ...

It read: "Brutal but very funny. The biggest capitulation since Newcastle in the '90s." That referred to the 1995-96 Premier League season, when Newcastle let a 12-point lead slip away and finished second to Manchester United.

The tweet was accompanied by a Vine video which segued from Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard leading an inspirational team huddle after victory over City to his slip to gift fellow title contenders Chelsea the opening goal in their recent 2-0 win at Anfield. That was followed by footage of Dwight Gayle's equaliser for Palace, a close-up of the 3-3 scoreline from Sky's coverage and an unrelated clip of Palace boss Tony Pulis laughing in a BBC interview.

Following LFC the last two matches I've felt like Apollo Creed's corner the last round in Rocky II. Going toe to toe is what they do, even to the bitter end. Its kind of noble in a sad, pathetic, soul crushing pointless,and devastating kind of way. I was watching that match with my wife and sons, and as mentioned it did have a Grady feel to it. When they subbed on Coutinho I felt like screaming at the tv. I could see it coming with Lucas and Gerrard together on the pitch. Why they felt they should even try to make up the goal difference I will never understand. I thought all that stuff was press bollocks, but Rodgers and the team seemed to believe they had to try.

Suarez was a mess even before the match ended, Gerrard had to help him to his feet after the match, he was a wreck. A lot of bad things can be said about Suarez, but no one wants his team to win as badly as he does.

The instant Henderson got that red card I felt like that was the title. There is more to it than that of course, but his loss was devastating. Lucas is a liability playing with Gerrard and he is not capable of going 90 since the injury. Bringing on Coutinho for Sterling and going for more goals was utter madness.

The sad part about this season is that they are going to be remembered like Keegan and that Newcastle team were. I don't think that is fair for a lot of reasons, but the memory is going to be of Gerrard after the City match and then slipping against Chelsea and blowing a 3 nil lead late at Palace. That's what is going to be remembered, and Gerrard knows it. He played out of control again yesterday. It has been a great season, maybe Villa wins or West Ham wins, but I can't see it. Maybe LFC comes back post Grady like the Red Sox did, but boy was that terrible.

I will say though that it didn't hurt as badly as the Chelsea match for a few reasons. For one thing, all they needed out of that Chelsea match was a draw. Not getting that draw led directly to the insanity of trying to catch City on GD and shipping 3 goals late against Palace. The fact that Gerrard slipped which caused the loss is the type of tragi comedic script that would be rejected in fiction. Throw in a dollop of Mourinho, and that was worse. But Palace, eh..... That one hurt.

I'm a fan of the anti-football squad, so my opinion might be shunned, but the avarice showed by Rodgers was deservingly punished again. I know many didn't want a Chelsea side to win for playing somewhat defensive (while having the 3rd most goals in the league) but a Liverpool side that ships in nearly 50 goals is making even less of a title case.

Sad for the Zanneti retirment. Just a great footballer from what I saw and an outstanding man from everything I've heard. I can still remember an Argentinian friend of mine who was just distraught when he wasn't included in WC2006.

I have had the privilege of meeting Javier Zanetti. He is one of the most impressive individuals I have ever met, as good a person as he is a footballer, which is saying a lot. He will be very sorely missed by all of Italian football.

Paris St Germain and Manchester City face fines of 60 million euros (49.2 million pounds) and limits on their Champions League squads for next season for breaching UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules, a source close to the process told Reuters on Tuesday.

UEFA said last week that nine unnamed clubs faced punishment under new rules designed to force teams to limit their financial losses and make football more economically stable. Confirmation of the sanctions could come by the end of this week.

French sports daily L'Equipe reported on Tuesday that Qatari-owned PSG would be fined and have their Champions League squad capped at 21 players instead of 25 next season under a proposed settlement. The club's wage bill would also be capped and the fine spread over three years.

A similar settlement is believed to have been offered to City but the English club is disputing the terms.

The squad cap could be particularly significant given UEFA's home grown player rules, which require 8 "home grown" players in a Champions League squad. If that number is not reduced, a club accepting such a deal would only have 13 spaces left, and would likely need to leave significant players out of the squad. The potential wage cap is also likely to be more of a penalty to these mega-rich clubs than the fine.

I don't think it's avarice so much as what he had for options. Liverpool's defense is not good and the best way to protect a 3-0 lead is to make it a 4-0 lead. At the same time given the way the game was trending at that point I think you'd have bet on 5-0 or 6-0 a hell of a lot more than you'd have bet on 3-3.

Watching Palace yesterday I thought of the 1990 White Sox. On the last day of the season they played a meaningless (to them) game at Fenway in a must win for the Red Sox. Chicago gave everything and then some trying to win that game and I remember Peter Gammons writing that Bart Giamatti would have been so proud of the White Sox' effort. Palace deserve the same recognition. They had every right to roll over and just run out the clock but they played that like a cup final.

barbosa: this was the best portrayal of soccer yet. it was well done, but kinda basic, which is fine considering the target audience.

the missing trophy: this was the most fun film so far. one of the things that made 30 for 30 great wasn't just that it told interesting or tragic stories, but that it also told fun ones, and this is really the first of the soccer films that had any sense of fun.